Ambitions

The Shift helps members to make use of the global framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals to map their societal ambitions.

6. Clean water and sanitation

As a research institute, by innovating and linking physical and digital technologies VITO creates decision support tools that empower governments, industry and individual users to play their role in the water transition.
VITO sets up inspiring living labs in a national and international context to demonstrate integrated water management solutions, thereby raising the amount of sustainable technological implementations for clean water and sanitations.

7. Affordable and clean energy

VITO as a research institute wants to accelerate the transition to a clean, affordable and secure energy system for all. VITO engages in Energyville with the aim of being the energy hub of our sustainable research and innovation Thor campus in Genk and creates a living lab for innovative technologies that contribute to the concept of energy positive communities that give access to electricity to all in developing countries and have the potential to increase substantially the share of renewable energy in total energy.
VITO as a company aims to build a climate positive new campus for its headquarters by 2030, powered by deep geothermal energy, which contributes to enhancing biodiversity.

11. Sustainable cities and communities

VITO supports public and private stakeholders in the transition to a sustainable urban infrastructure by translating scientific knowledge into decision support in the fields of air quality, water management, resource efficiency, energy and sustainable buildings. Key in our research is the integration of environmental impacts and transition management to a circular economy and a sustainable energy system. We are internationally active in fast developing regions with a huge need for sustainable urban infrastructure like China and India.

12. Responsible consumption and production

As a research institute, VITO aims to develop technological solutions that would allow a drastic reduction in the use of fossil resources in the chemical industry.
VITO aims to develop and implement 10 tools that help decision makers to roll out the circular economy.
VITO will develop indicators and application to evaluate policy frameworks and policy plans on sustainable consumption and production.
As a Company VITO will develop a front-running sustainable consumption framework and will support his employees to make sustainable lifestyle choices. Our sustainability performance will be published in our annual report.

13. Climate action

In its research activities, VITO supports the transition to a low carbon society with scientific knowledge and ready to use applications, technological solutions as policy advice. We are a leading, independent knowledge provider of local, regional and European public bodies in the field of energy, resource efficiency, land use and biobased economy.
As a company, VITO aims to be climate positive by 2030.

17. Partnerships for the goals

To achieve SDG 17 VITO launches a series of annual international conferences under the heading "Global Science, Technology and Innovation Conference (G-STIC)." The first conference in the G-STIC Series will take place from 23 to 25 oktober2017 in Brussels and is organized by a consortium of institutions including the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) and VITO.
The purpose of the G-STIC series is to provide support under the UN flag in one hand, the implementation of the Development Agenda in 2030 and associated SDG and secondly the climate. This will be done with the best available scholarly and technical reviews, and convening all relevant stakeholders with knowledge of technology. All this to support the global implementation of SDG's and the transition to less carbon and resource-intensive, more resilient, economic development models.
Through GSTIC, we want to considerably strengthen the technological implementation mechanisms within the UN system.

3. Good health

As researchers, we want to develop the scientific insight that health is the sum of social, environmental, genetic and lifestyle factors and promote solutions worldwide.
As VITO we want to promote a culture of wellbeing through an active experience of our values and an incorporation of sustainability in all our actions. Our Fit@VITO program actively supports our employees to adapt a healthy lifestyle.

5. Gender equality

As a company, VITO is dedicated to further build on a fair and inclusive work environment with a diverse workforce. Through our company culture, value set and leadership , we further enhance our positive attitude towards diversity and embrace diversity as an asset for innovation. We support this culture with a set of positive actions (learning and development, recruitment and selection, FIT@VITO and well-being,…). We have an explicit gender equality commitment in the “HR Strategy for Researchers”, monitored under the label “HR Excellence”.